Advancement level of mobile applications intended for type 1 diabetes therapy supporting

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycaemia due to defective secretion and/or action of insulin. Chronic hyperglycaemia is associated with damage, dysfunction, and failure of various organs, in particular eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, and blood vessels.  It is estimated that the number of patients with type 1 diabetes accounts for about 10% of all diabetics, even more children and young adults i.e. under 30 constitute between 85 – 90 % of morbidities.  The fundamental part of type 1 diabetes therapy is providingpatient with an external insulin therapy. The objective of this research was to formulate requirements concerning mobile applications for diabetes 1 therapy as well as an overview and a classification of such applications currently available. This paper includes a set of 20 requirementsfor mobile applications intended for type 1 diabetes patients. Some of them are beyond the possibilities of the modern-day IT industry. Nowadays there is no applications that meets all of the criteria. However, the tendency to fulfill all of them can be noticed

Outer billiard around a curvilinear triangle with a fixed diameter

We consider an outer billiard around a Reulaux triangle. We prove the existence of infinitely many periodic points accumulating at infinity. To do so we con- struct a return map from a strip into itself and we study its properties. We also show some numerical simulations which, in particular, display heteroclinic intersections and Smale's horseshoes

Comparative analysis of the time performance of database queries in C# language

There are many computer applications in the world that use databases to store, process, and use data. That translates into many different ways of handling these databases. It is therefore difficult to choose a solution that meets the needs of the user. This article compares three C# solutions in terms of time efficiency: the Entity Framework Core application framework, pure SQL queries, and parameterized Prepared Statement queries. The results obtained in the course of the research has shown that the fastest solution is the use of non-parameterised SQL queries. The use of Entity Framework Core is the slowest of the three tested solutions.&nbsp

Wpływ zanieczyszczenia powietrza na stężenie tlenku azotu w wydychanym powietrzu (FeNO) u dzieci – przegląd literatury

The health burden related air pollution has serious implications for human health around the world. Air pollution affecting the human body includes a broad scope of health signs, starting from the mildest symptoms and ending up with death. Children, especially the youngest, due to their developmental period and associated immaturity of their systems, are more vulnerable to the penetration and concentration of air pollutants in the respiratory tract, as well as to their toxic effects. The measurement of concentration of nitric oxide in the exhaled air (FeNO) is a valuable and quite simple diagnostic method providing significant information on pathological processes in the respiratory system. This is a valuable biomarker and determinant in detecting and monitoring the upper and lower respiratory tract inflammation, especially eosinophilic inflammation, asthma and allergic rhinitis. The aim of this work is to present the measurement of the concentration of nitric oxide in the exhaled air (FeNO) as a simple method useful in the health assessment of a paediatric patient, as well as to indicate how air pollutants affect the FeNO concentration levels based on the available professional literature. Numerous research papers have revealed a correlation between the FeNO concentration levels and air pollution. It is of key importance to carry out further studies in order to assess the impact of gaseous and particulate air pollutants on the FeNO concentration levels.Obciążenie chorobami związanymi z zanieczyszczeniem powietrza ma poważne znaczenie dla zdrowia ludzi na całym świecie. Wpływ zanieczyszczenia powietrza na organizm człowieka zawiera bardzo szerokie spektrum objawów od najłagodniejszych aż do zgonu. Dzieci, zwłaszcza najmłodsze, ze względu na okres rozwojowy oraz związaną z tym niedojrzałość, są w większym stopniu niż dorośli narażone na wnikanie, koncentrację i toksyczne skutki zanieczyszczeń powietrza w drogach oddechowych. Pomiar stężenie tlenku azotu w wydychanym powietrzu (FeNO) jest cenną i prostą metodą diagnostyczną dostarczającą istotnych informacji o procesach chorobowych toczących się w układzie oddechowym. Jest uznanym biomarkerem oraz wyznacznikiem ilościowym w wykrywaniu oraz monitorowaniu stanu zapalnego górnych i dolnych dróg oddechowych, zwłaszcza zapalenia eozynofilowego, astmy oraz alergicznego nieżytu nosa. Celem pracy jest przedstawienie pomiaru stężenie tlenku azotu w wydychanym powietrzu (FeNO) jako prostej metody przydatnej w ocenie stanu pacjenta pediatrycznego oraz ukazanie wpływu zanieczyszczeń powietrza na poziom FeNO na podstawie dostępnej literatury. Wiele prac badawczych wykazało związek pomiędzy poziomem FeNO a zanieczyszczeniem powietrza. Potrzebne są dalsze badania oceniające wpływ gazowych i pyłowych zanieczyszczeń powietrza na poziom FeNO

Effect of Short-Term Desiccation, Recovery Time, and CAPA–PVK Neuropeptide on the Immune System of the Burying Beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides

Environmental conditions, especially related to winter, are crucial for shaping activity of insect immune system. However, our previous research clearly indicates differences in the immune system functioning when the cold stress was induced in the laboratory conditions and when the beetles were collected from natural environment during winter. This is probably related to the multiplication of observed effects by simultaneous presence of different stress factors characteristic of winter, including desiccation. For these reasons, our next step was analysis of the effects of short-term desiccation and recovery time on the functioning of immune system of burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. Also, the effect of Tenmo–PVK-2 (tenebrionid periviscerokinin), member of the CAPA–PVK neuropeptide family, was investigated to better understand observed changes. Short-term desiccation decreases the phagocytic activity of burying beetle haemocytes, which is correlated with a reduction in their adhesive ability. On the other hand, there was a significant increase in phenoloxidase (PO) activity and the level of proPO expression, which may suggest sealing the cuticula by melanin deposition and prevention of water loss. Additionally, the elevated level of defensin expression may be associated with the cross-talk between mechanisms, which participate in insect response to environmental stress, including pathogen infection. After 1 h of recovery time, the activity of tested cellular and humoral mechanisms was mostly back to the control level. However, inhibition of the activity of PO and down-regulation of proPO were noted. These results also indicate importance of melanin deposition during water loss. Moreover, it suggests that some changes in immune system functioning during stress conditions do not have an immune function. Interestingly, part of the effects characteristic of recovery time were also observed after the application of Tenmo–PVK-2, mainly related to haemocyte morphology. These results indicate that CAPA–PVK neuropeptides may also influence on activity of burying beetle immune system. It should be also highlighted that, because of the study of the effects of CAPA–PVK neuropeptides, homologs of vertebrate neuromedin U, the results may be interesting for search evolutionary similarities in the functioning of the neuroendocrine system of insects and vertebrates

Approximation Algorithms for the Joint Replenishment Problem with Deadlines

The Joint Replenishment Problem (JRP) is a fundamental optimization problem in supply-chain management, concerned with optimizing the flow of goods from a supplier to retailers. Over time, in response to demands at the retailers, the supplier ships orders, via a warehouse, to the retailers. The objective is to schedule these orders to minimize the sum of ordering costs and retailers' waiting costs. We study the approximability of JRP-D, the version of JRP with deadlines, where instead of waiting costs the retailers impose strict deadlines. We study the integrality gap of the standard linear-program (LP) relaxation, giving a lower bound of 1.207, a stronger, computer-assisted lower bound of 1.245, as well as an upper bound and approximation ratio of 1.574. The best previous upper bound and approximation ratio was 1.667; no lower bound was previously published. For the special case when all demand periods are of equal length we give an upper bound of 1.5, a lower bound of 1.2, and show APX-hardness

Genetic response to metabolic fluctuations: correlation between central carbon metabolism and DNA replication in Escherichia coli

BACKGROUND: Until now, the direct link between central carbon metabolism and DNA replication has been demonstrated only in Bacillus. subtilis. Therefore, we asked if this is a specific phenomenon, characteristic for this bacterium and perhaps for its close relatives, or a more general biological rule. RESULTS: We found that temperature-sensitivity of mutants in particular genes coding for replication proteins could be suppressed by deletions of certain genes coding for enzymes of the central carbon metabolism. Namely, the effects of dnaA46(ts) mutation could be suppressed by dysfunction of pta or ackA, effects of dnaB(ts) by dysfunction of pgi or pta, effects of dnaE486(ts) by dysfunction of tktB, effects of dnaG(ts) by dysfunction of gpmA, pta or ackA, and effects of dnaN159(ts) by dysfunction of pta or ackA. The observed suppression effects were not caused by a decrease in bacterial growth rate. CONCLUSIONS: The genetic correlation exists between central carbon metabolism and DNA replication in the model Gram-negative bacterium, E. coli. This link exists at the steps of initiation and elongation of DNA replication, indicating the important global correlation between metabolic status of the cell and the events leading to cell reproduction

Nurses' spiritual attitudes and involvement-Validation of the Polish version of the Spiritual Attitude and Involvement List

Spirituality is vital in the holistic approach to nursing care. The personal spirituality of nurses has been documented to have an impact on the spiritual nursing care they provide